Residents question liquor sales at Young's Market

Saturday

Oct 23, 2010 at 12:01 AM

By Shelby SebensShelby.Sebens@StarNewsOnline.com

This is a corrected version of the story.

When Mary Ann Keiser's great niece wanted to go to the park the other day, she had to turn the little girl down because a middle-aged man was sitting on the wall that rings around playground equipment, sipping beers from paper bags. "She says, ‘well can't you make the man leave?'" Keiser said. The loitering at Bicentennial Park, drug paraphernalia in the street and public urination is a growing frustration for residents in the 200 block of Sixth Street. After spending thousands of dollars rehabbing and relocating historic homes as part of a neighborhood revitalization effort, some residents say old crime problems are resurfacing. They blame Young's Market on Chestnut and Sixth Street being allowed to sell beer and wine as of March. But owner of the market Anjanette Enmyeche says residents are grasping at straws trying to connect criminal activity with her store. "It's not the liquor license truly that's the problem. They don't want businesses in the neighborhood," she said. The city of Wilmington and the N.C. ABC Commission denied Enmyeche's request to sell alcohol in the spring of 2009. But she appealed and Administrative Law Judge Joe Webster reversed the ABC's decision in November 2009 and ordered she be given the permit to sell beer and wine. According to court documents, the judge stated there was no hard evidence linking crime to alcohol sales. But there's no doubt in the residents' minds that alcohol contributes to loitering in the park and increased issues for the burgeoning neighborhood. "We love our neighborhood. We just want to keep it safe," Linda Mechling said. She and her husband Richard Mechling bought a home on Sixth Street in 2003 that had been renovated in the 1990s. Keiser, a former member of the city's Historic Preservation Commission, said at times she has wanted to throw in the towel, feeling as though the neighborhood is slipping back to its old ways despite several homes being renovated. Councilman Kevin O'Grady said the city has had a long history with that store. He said after the previous operator left, it was closed for 180 days. When Enmyeche wanted to open it back up in 2008, the city said it was a non conforming use. But, the Wilmington Board of Adjustment reversed that decision and allowed it to reopen. O'Grady has met with the residents and said he plans to work with police, ABC and ALE agencies to determine if there are facts that would support taking action. "I understand their concern," he said of the residents. Enmyeche argues several convenience stores are located within blocks of the park and that it would not be possible to know which store loiterers are buying their booze from. "I just feel like we have a right to run a business in the city," she said. "I think that the neighbors need to give us a chance to show we're an asset to he neighbored we're not a bad part of the neighborhood."